Hall of Shame - Knobby Lives / Thomas Byers

On March 22, 2011 Thomas Byers, a resident of Shelby, North Carolina claims to have filmed a Bigfoot, in a 5 second video, as it crossed the road in front of his truck. This fuzzy video shows an obvious person in a costume, and "inexplicably" is out of focus.

Byers is in his own words states on his YouTube page, the following of the "sighting" and video:

The video...

Byer's story...

It would appear that Byers had gotten the video and created a You Tube page, as the page was created the same day the video was taken. He did post a website on the page as KnobbyLives.com and KnobbyLives.info.On the site which the two url's direct towards his site Byers goes in to more detail about the video and events surrounding the event:

"On the evening of Tuesday March 22, 2011 I and a friend of mine Carolyn Wright were driving down Golden Valley Road in northern Rutherford County North Carolina just off Highway 226 when we both observed a large upright brown furry animal between six and seven feet tall come up out of the field beside the road and then it ran across the road in front of the pick up truck we were in. Carolyn stopped the truck and I jumped from the truck with a small video camera and started shooting a video of the Big Foot as it ran across the road in front of the truck and into the thick woods and road side brush on the side of the road in front of the truck. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen and though I did not get it in the woods on video I watched it run up the side of a small mountain crashing through the brush as it ran.

As I filmed it crossing the road it turned its head towards me and snarled or growled at me as it ran across the road. It was truly one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen. It was at one point only 15-20 foot from me and it happened so fast and shook me up so bad that I really didn't understand what I had seen until it

It was up the side of the mountain and out of sight. You can watch the video below of what I saw and you can hear its snarl or growl on the video as it crosses the road in front of the truck I and Carolyn were riding in. One thing I know is the smell of it was horrid. It smelled like a cross between road kill and a skunk. And it did not like the fact that I was there on the road with it. In the video you can hear it snarl or growl at me as it crosses the road. Golden Valley is located in Rutherford County North Carolina and is near upper Cleveland County North Carolina where the Big Foot called Knobby has been spotted for years. I don't know if it was Knobby but I do know it was a very real being that was severely pissed that I was there on the road with it. It was truly one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen. " - Thomas Byers 3/22/11

"The video went viral. thanks in part to its propagation via the mainstream media circuits. This obviously expounded many questions, and in a very vague manner, Byers addressed some of the questions:

1. We were in the area going to a old church up on a local mountain to shoot footage to try to capture orbs or something unusual. However the mountain was on fire and the road up to the church was closed. So we were driving around looking for another old church in the area.

2. It was between 7.45 - 8.00 P.M. when the video was taken. It was getting dark and there was no sun light left in the mountain valley where the video was taken.

3. We are always looking for something unusual to take photos or video of and we were really surprised when the Big Foot came up out of the field and ran across the road.

4. I was there on the road with it and I truly believe it was real. I clearly saw its private parts and it was a male. I have never saw a suit with male parts. I could clearly see its rear and anal region when it ran into the woods. There was a very distinct odor coming from this animal. I believe it was real. I do not see how it could have been anyone wearing a suit. Unless I am proved wrong I will always believe this was a real living breathing being.

5. It is a Slick brand cheap video camera I purchased at the Dollar Store. I wish I had been in possession of a better camera but it was what I had. When it ran into the woods I tried to follow it in but the camera would not pick up anything in the darkness there under the trees.

6. The time stamp is wrong on my camera and I can not figure out how to set it right.

7. When it growled at me I saw yellow teeth in a very real looking mouth. It threw its hands up in the air and I don't know why when it growled at me. I do not think it was waving at me I think it was pissed that I was there on the road with it. " -Thomas Byers 3/24/11

Inconsistencies and IrregularitiesFirst of all, from a story aspect, this has all the trappings of a hoax. First, it is a five...maybe ten second encounter by Byers own admission, but in that time we have visual of the teeth as it snarled at him and viewing of the genetalia (both of which are not seen on the camera, which could explain why the video was blurry, to obscure such details or lack thereof.) So we have audio, video, of course the smell which only occurs in 10% of the time in authentic Sasquatch encounters. Also we have tracks.From a film aspect it even gets worse. In one frame "Knobby" appears to wave at the person shooting the video.

It's stride appears no greater than the double yellow line, not typical of a real Sasquatch which has a 48" stride, which one would expect from a "creature" Byers reported as being 7' tall.

The speed of the "creature" is very unimpressive and it shuffles and skips across the road taking 5 seconds to do such. This is not congruent to what many Sasquatch witnesses encounter. What we see is a slow moving figure, appearing to be moving in an unnatural manner.

Revealations

Byers gives the appearance of getting a video, then creating a website based on his video and experience with seeing the infamous North Carolina Sasquatch known as Knobby. He started a You Tube page with the name "Knobby Lives" that evening.

However if that is true then why did Byers buy the domain name KnobbyLives.com from Go-Daddy on FEBRUARY 28TH, 2011 and KnobbyLives.info on MARCH 1ST, 2011, some weeks before he miraculously took the video of March 22, 2011?

Conclusion

For obvious reasons, this film is a hoax. Why however is Thomas Byers and KnobbyLives.com in the Hall of Shame? Well on March 29th, 2011, Byers released a video of the Patterson-Gimlin Film, claiming that he did the enhancements, but strangely appears to be the same enhancement MK Davis did several years back. It would appear that there is another person on the horizon trying to be something he is not, and propagating baloney and malarkey on the web, supposedly in the name of Bigfoot research.

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